1960 S Civil Rights & Vietnam

US HISTORY – 1967-1975

1960’s Civil Rights & Vietnam

Individual and group activists started civil rights movements during this time. They protested, spoke, wrote, boycotted and litigated in order to change the thinking and laws that caused segregation and discrimination among the races and sexes. There were many movements: Black, Latino, Native American, Women, and others.
Many historic amendments helped legally end segregation and discrimination by 1965. The 13th amendment put an end to slavery. The 14th amendment gave all citizens equal protection under the law. The 15th gave all races the right to vote and the 19th gave women the right to vote as well.
John F. Kennedy (Democrat) became the president in 1960, barely winning over Richard Nixon (Republican). Kennedy was good looking, young and vibrant, which played a new role since the elections were televised. He won by focusing on the poor and the economy instead of civil rights since that was such a controversial subject.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, TX which led to Lyndon B. Johnson becoming president. LBJ introduced his “Great Society” with the domestic agenda of waging war on poverty. He did this through political processes, the Immigration Act of 1965, implementing Medicare/Medicaid and creating Head Start preschool programs. Barry Goldwater opposed LBJ’s attempts but was beaten in the 1964 election.
The Vietnam War began when the nation fell to communism and the countries were afraid that others would follow so they needed to put a stop to it. Ho Chi Minh, nationalist revolutionary, defeated the French. The U.S. supported the French. The war ended in 1975, when the North and Viet Cong beat the South. 58,000 Americans died. There were many protests against the war and the draft.
The Vietnam War left the U.S. divided among its generations. The 1969 moon landing (Apollo 11), however, brought Americans back together and was a turning point. It showed that extraordinary things could be accomplished despite the flaws of a nation. / Important People & Events
Mendez v. Westminster & Delgado v. Bastrop ISD-Mexican students segregated violating 14th amendment
Executive Order 9981 (1948)- Desegregation of U.S. military
Sweatt v. Painter (1950)- separate black law school unequal
Hernandez v. Texas (1954)- jurors excluded based on race
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)- segregated schools unequal
1957 Civil Rights Act- small commission on black civil rights
1964 Civil Rights Act- segregation illegal in public places and in hiring
24th Amendment (1964)- stopped poll taxes in federal elections
1965 Voting Rights Act- banned unapproved procedures and literacy tests and added election examiners
Thurgood Marshall- first African-American Supreme Court Justice; won many civil rights cases
Rosa Parks- refused to give up bus seat and was arrested
Martin Luther King Jr.- Baptist minister who lead the boycott- 381 days of Montgomery Bus Boycott; assassinated in 1968
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”- King was jailed for peaceful demonstrations and wrote this to increase support
The March on Washington- Over 200,000 people went to Washington to hear MLK speak for civil rights
“I Have a Dream”- The speed MLK gave at the March
Orval Faubus- Arkansas governor who used state troops to stop black students from entering Little Rock Central H.S. in 1957
George Wallace-In 1963, Alabama governor who believed in segregation forever and won South’s electoral votes
Lester Maddox- restaurant owner who sold ax handles to show resistance to civil rights
Ku Klux Klan- segregationists who threatened activists
Malcolm X- started Nation of Islam; saw whites as enemies
Black Panthers- violent, armed militant group for civil rights
1965 Watts riot- inner-city riot by blacks
LULAC- League of United Latin American Citizens for civil rights
MALDEF- Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund
UFW- United Farm Workers union for rights
La Raza Unida- Mexican-American Texas political party
Betty Friedan (1963)- wrote The Feminine Mystique for discontented housewives
NOW- National Organization for Women
Roe v. Wade (1973)- legalization of abortion
AIM- American Indian Movement protested and patrolled
Rachel Carson (1962)-wrote Silent Spring; movement against harming the environment
Ralph Nader (1965)- wrote Unsafe at Any Speed and other reports that led to safer traffic and vehicle laws
1969 Stonewall riot- homosexual club raid, fought police